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Re: The Apology Thread.

I'd like to apologize to Matt Birk and the Offensive Line coaches.

I thought the main thing that was holding Flacco back (other than the playcalling) was our weakness at Center. The pocket was constantly collapsing as Joe dropped back. He was rarely able to step up, and when that rare opportunity presented himself he didn't do it probably because it startled him that the pocket was still there. I think it affected his mechanics. Also the pocket would shrink so much that Defenders could reach in and hit Joe or the ball fairly frequently.
As the man at the top of the constantly moving backward pocket, I blamed Birk.

At the beginning of the year I posted "Who is going to be our starting tackle?" I knew it would be Matt Birk - i just didn't want it to be him.

I should have known better. The Offensive Line play is never about just one man - it's how the whole line plays together. The OL coaches finally found the right combination. With Ossemelee on one side and Yanda on the other, Mr. Birk stepped up and the OL solidified. That development made a direct correlation to the blossoming of Joe Flacco and the success of our playoff run.

Hats off to you Matt Birk. I am so glad you are getting the Super Bowl Ring you so richly deserve at the end off your HOF career.

humbly,
-rfd

If you break the rules you can't make the rules.
- Remove Coach Tomlin from the NFL Competition committee.

Re: The Apology Thread.

Well, for those of you who read my stuff on here, you know I'm a pretty supportive guy of our players.

Right now, Tandon Doss and Ed Dickson are the two guys I'm defending despite a lack of popularity in doing so.

But here is a list of all the members of the 2012/13 squad that I have heard raked over the coals here:

1) Joe Flacco- "He's not a franchise quarterback" "He has no pocket awareness" "He looks like a deer in the headlights" "The Ravens need to look for his replacement in the offseason" "Give Tyrod Taylor a start to shake things up" (was actually said) "What would it cost to bring in Alex Smith to replace him?"

2) Anquan Boldin- "he's too slow to contribute as a WR anymore" "He's washed up" "He has bad hands"
(I don't think the put-downs on Boldin were that bad overall, most of us supported him, but there were 4-5
people who kept saying these things after he had a bad game)

3) Ed Dickson- enough said on him

4) Michael Oher- "trade him before the rest of the league finds out that he sucks" "Dumbest guy in the league" "never learns from his mistakes" "He's gonna get Joe carried off in a stretcher some day"

6) Matt Birk- nothing major, but there were a few mild statements that he was washed up and "getting eaten alive" by larger DTs.

7) David Reed- This is one who hadn't been mentioned. This guy was universally slammed to a level likely matched by only McKinnie. Some comments that come to mind are "worthless" "cut him as he is getting on the plane and make him find his own way back to Baltimore" (actually said after the Seattle game) "No chance of ever seeing the field again for the Ravens". He wasn't a major cog in our success, but once he got back healthy this year, he did some nice things for us as our gunner.

8) Terrence Cody- Pretty much all the same names as McKinnie, except with a little less vitrol because I don't think he was viewed as a partying quitter like McKinnie. Of all the people on the people on this list, he is the one who I will admit to not having a leg to stand on defense-wise. He's a bad player, and seems to not show any signs of getting better. I can't think of one significantly positive thing he did for us in 16 games this year. IMO, we won a title in spite of him, not in any way thanks to him. No apology needed here.

9) Paul Kruger. Didn't hear much criticism of him this year, but I've heard him referred to as a "bust" hundreds of times over his first two years, particularly that rookie season when he was inactive a lot in favor of more experienced guys like Barnes, Pryce, Suggs, JJ, etc

10) Ellerbe - I heard a ton of people saying he was lazy, undisciplined, and had no value to us anymore. I heard a lot of "cut him" after his end zone fiasco in the preseason last year. We also heard a lot of people saying he wasn't worth the 2nd round tender that the Ravens game him last offseason, saying that he didn't have the motivation to make a legitimate contribution.

11) Considine- "Only reason he is still on a NFL roster is because he's one of Harbaugh's guy". Well, Harbaugh's guy, along with Anthony Allen, delivered one of the biggest blocks in Ravens history in springing Jones for the KO return TD. Without that block, we might not have a 2nd Lombardi in our trophy case.

12) Jimmy Smith- people have blasted him because he can't stay healthy, and when he is, he has been highly inconsistent. Yet, in the clutch, he made some key plays. I remember that sensational INT against Brady last year in the AFCCG. Brady was going for the knockout punch to eliminate us from that game, and Smith's ridiculous athleticism prevented it and kept hope alive for a win. He made a great tackle on Holliday late in the OT period of the Denver game, forcing them to start their drive deep into Denver territory. That field position ultimately mattered when Manning's INT took place in DEN territory and we only needed 15 yards or so to get it into Tucker range.

13) Cary Williams- The names he was called after the Eagles/Patriots game were a bit embarrassing to be frank. A lot of people were slamming him as an idiot for not taking the contract extension, saying he'd never see anywhere near that type of money again. I heard a reference to him as the "2012 DeRon Jenkins" . The very next week he returned an INT for a TD and played pretty well over the final 2/3rds of the season.

I was particularly irritated by some of the comment directed at Cary, because he was a player who was cut by a pretty mediocre Titans team in 2009 because they saw no value in him. By 2011, less than two seasons later, he was starting every game for the AFC runner up. By the end of 2012, he was playing the best CB on our team. This guy went from practice squad to cut to starter on a Super Bowl team in a remarkably short span of time. You don't make that type of progress without working your tail off. Cary Williams and Ed Reed started all 38 of our games over the past two seasons. Last year, when we faced simultaneous injuries to Smith/Foxworth/Chris Carr early in the season, we leaned on Williams. This year, we had Webb and Smith out for a long stretch of time, and it was again Cary Williams who stepped up his play along with Graham.

Williams won't go down in Baltimore football history as a big hero, but he should. His remarkable progress from waiver wire pickup to solid, durable starter should always be remembered as a key component of our success this year.

Re: The Apology Thread.

I would like to apologize to John Harbaugh as well. I've always liked you as our coach, John. I've always felt you were a great leader and a great listener. Yet, I apologize because I felt at times that you didn't have enough xs and os savvy to take a team all the way to the promised land. I was wrong. You were the perfect fit for our organization and I couldn't be prouder to have you lead our troops for years to come.